Draft-rigging for railway-cars.



J. F. OCONNOR.

DRAFT RIGGING FOB RAILWAY CARS.

Patented Jan. 28, 1919.

um A M m M .H A w H DI A .2 6 8 2 9 2 1 2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

W1 TNESSES UAW/QW J. F. UCUNNOR.

DRAFT mmm; FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. l. 1916.

Patented Jun. 28, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 JNll/ENToR.

1 @ATTORNEY W1 TNESSES.-

1 raranr ernten.

JOHN F. OCONNOB, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG-NOR T0 WILLIAM H. MINER, 0F

CHAZY, NEW YORK.

DRAFT-RIGGING FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

Application led March 1` To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN F. OCoNNoR, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Draft-Rigging .forRailway-Cars, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specification. n

My invention relates' to improvements in draft rigging for railway cars.

The object of my invention is to provide a draft rigging of durableconstruction and efficient operation.

In the drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a planv iew partly in horizontal section of a draft rigging embodying myinvention. In this view the parts of the rigging are shown in theirnormal position. Fig. 2 is a plan view partly in horizontal sectionshowing the position of the parts when in full buff and showing thefollowers flexed under maximum stress. Fig. 3 is a plan, view partly inhorizontal section, showing the position of the parts when in full buffbut prior to any flexing of the follower plates. I

In the drawings, numeral 4 indicates draft members or parts of the carframe to which the draft rigging is applied. The draw-bar is indicatedat 5. The draw-bar 1s of a usu'al type having a transverse slot 6 forthe reception of a coupler key. A draft yoke 7- is mounted between thedraft inembers, the said draft yoke having the usual upper and lowerlimbs forming spring pockets between them, and is provided at itsforward end with a hollow box-like opening to receive the butt of thedraw-bar 5. The said box-like member is provided with the transverseperforations 8 for the passage of the coupler key 9 which extendsthrough the slot 6 in the draw-bar and at its ends passes through thelongitudinally extended slots 10 provided in the adjacent portions ofthe stop members 11 and the draft members 4. The said yoke is providedat its rear end with a rear connecting member 12, and intermediate itsends with the yoke thimble 13 which in the particular form shown in thedrawings is integral with the yoke.

The type of draft rigging shown is thatY Specification of LettersPatent.

1916. Serial No. 81,330.

generally known as a tandem draft rigging in which front and rearcompression resisting members are employed. In the particular embodimentof my invention shown in the drawings, the front draft gear orcompression resisting member is indicated at 14, and the rear draft gearor compression resisting member at 15. Each of said gears consists of anumber of resisting elements such as the spring 16 which is seated atits ends against followers, the front follower being shown at thenumeral 17, the front intermediate follower at 18, and rearintermediaQt/g follower at 19, and the rear follower at Heretofore, indraft riggings of this general type there has in actual service been acertain amount of give or yielding of parts of the rigging. Forinstance, in types where a key connection between the yoke and coupleris employed, a suiicient clear rivets as they are sometimes usedl inconnecting the draft yoke to the draw-bar and in connecting a separablethimble to the limbs of the yoke, the rivets will yield to a greater orless degree in service, and intermediate thimbles of the integral typeto a certain extent have been found to yield under certain conditions.

Heretofore, it has been the practice in providing stop members for atandem draft rigging to provide a spacing between the stop shouldersthereof which is identical for each of the spaces provided for thetravel of the followers. In my invention this construction is notfollowed. It will be noted that in Fig. 1, in which the parts of thedraft rigging are shown in their normal position, the front follower 17is seated against the front stop shoulders 21, and the frontintermediate follower 18 is, in normal position, slightly spaced apartfrom the front intermediate stop shoulder 22 as indicated at the numeral23. The rear follower 20 is seated against the rear stop shoulders 24and the rear intermediate follower is slightly spaced Patented J an. 28,1919.

apart from the rear intermediate stop shoulders 25 as indicated at thenumeral'QG.. rlhe front limiting sto shoulders are indicated at thenumerals 2 *27, and the rear limiting stop shoulders at the numerals253-28.

lt will be `noted that the length of the thimble 13 of the yoke isgreater than the dista-nce from the front intermediate stop shoulder 22to the face of the rear intermediate stop shoulder 25, and that thefront and rear intermediate followers 'bear respectively against thefront and rear faces of said thimble in the normal position of the gear.

To allow for the lost motion between the various parts of the draftrigging in front ofthe front follower, to-wirt: the draw-bar, the yokeand the key, which is occasioned through the comparatively loose fittingof these parts, (the key when employed usually being a rough forging) lmake the space between the front stop shoulders 21' and the adjacentlimiting stop sholulders 27 greater than the spacingbetween the frontintermediate stop shoulder and its adjacent limiting stop shoulder, andgreater than the spacing'between the various stop shoulders for the reargear of the :tandem draft rigging.

lt will thus ybe seen in the draft rigging illustrated in the drawings,and as is usual in draft riggings of this type, the butt of the coupler5 engages against the front face of the front follower at il', and onrearward movement of the draw-bar in bufng action of the rigging, thefollower 17, being thrust rearwardly directly by the draw-bar, is giventhe maximum amount of movement, or, in other words, equals in itslongitudinal travel 'the travel of theY draw-bar.

@n account of the slight give or yielding of that portionof the draftyoke in front of the intermediate thimble, l provide the slight space 23Ibetween 'the front intermediate follower and its adjacent frontintermediate stop shoulder 22, in order that the rear draft gear of thetandem draft rigging may commence its compression resisting action atsuch a. time that upon the full compression of the springs all of the yfollowers will simultaneously be in engagement with their sto-pshoulders rearwardly adjaeent thereto. lt will be apparent thatl on 'theinitial rearward. more ment of the front follower there will be only aslight compression resisting action of both springs until the frontinte.irme/di ate follower engages its adjacent front intermediate stopshoulders its may *be inferred .from the foregoing, the spaces providedbetween the different shoulders that mark the ends of the travel of eachof the followers differ for each fol lowenhthe space between the frontstop shoulder and the front limiting stop shoul- Lacasse der being thegreatest,-that between the" front intermediate stop shoulder and the Yadjacent front limiting stop shoulder less,-

that between the rear intermediate stop shoulder and the adjacentlimiting stop shoulder still less,-and that between the rear stopshoulder and the adjacent limiting Sto shoulder the least of all thespacings. y reason of lthe conditions jdoscribed and the arrangementdetailed, all of the followers will simultaneously come to their maximumexed position at the same time in builing movement. This is also true indraft, as will be hereinafter described.I

shoulders employed in a tandem draft rigging, for the front 4follower tobecome so flexed, without the flexing of the other follower, that thefront follower ultimately takes a permanent set, thus destroying itsefficiency or, as sometimes occurs, the follower breaks.

Thus, among other accomplishments of my invention is to be found this:that instead of, as heretofore, employing only the resilience of thefront follower to resist the ultimate extreme shocks, l employ all fourfollowers simultaneously. y

@n forward movement of the draw-bar, in pulling action of the draftrigging the draft yoke moves forwardly, compressing the rear springagainst the rear intermediate follower and 'the front spring against thefront follower. lt will be obvious that the limbs of the yoke rearwardlyof the intermediate thimble 13 have to withstand 'the compressionresisting force of the rear gear alone, while 'that portion of the limbsof the yoke in front of the intermediate thimble are required towithstand the com lil@ pression resisting force not only of the frontspring, hut of the accumulated. resistance of the rear spring also, Thisdouble tensile strain upon the forward part of the yoke compared withthat upon 'the rearward part of the yoke, together with the yi of .theintermediate thimble, tenes through the stretching of the parts toenlarge the front spring pocket of the yoke in which the front draftgear is receired to a greater extent than the stretching of the rearportion of the yoke 1 the spring pocket within n :nth the rear t gear ofthe rigging is received. l p voi'fide for this' difference gsd throughthe space 26 (which has been heretofore described) between the rearintermediate follower 19 and the rear intermediate stop shoulder 25.Because of this provision, it will be obvious, and conversely Thevariation in the length of pockets and the difference in length betweenthe front and rear pockets due to the force applied 1n oppositedirections to a draft rigging, is more noticeable in that type of tandemdraft rigging yoke in which a riveted intermediate thimble is employedthan in a structure of the type shown in the drawing, in which anintegral thimble is' employed.

I claim:

1. In a tandem draft rigging for railway cars, in combination, draftmembers, followers, compression resisting members, a draw-bar, a yokeand stop members, the stop members being provided withstop shoulders andlimiting stop shoulders for each of the followers, the space between thestop shoulder and limiting stop shoulder for each follower beingdifferent in length from that for any other follower.

2. A st op member for railway car draft riggingcomprising a plate havingfront, rear, front intermediate and rear intermediate stop shoulders,and front and rear limiting stop shoulders, the space between the frontstop shoulder and the adjacent limiting stop shoulder beingcomparatively longer than the space between any other sto shoulder andadjacent limiting stop s oulder thereon.

3. A tandem stop casting for draft riggings having main front, rear andinter` mediate stops, and limiting stops between the main stops, thedistance between each main stop and adjacent coperating limiting stopgradually decreasing from the front end to the rear end of the casting.

4. A tandem casting having main front, rear and intermediate stops, thedistance between the front and front intermediate stop being greaterthan the'distance between/the rear stop and the rear intermediate stop.

5. In a draft rigging, the combination with a draw-bar, tandem yoke,tandem-arranged springs, and tandem-arranged followers, of tandem stopcastings having main front, rear and intermediate stops, and limitingstops between the main stops, the space between each main stop andyadjacent coperating limiting stop gradually decreasing from the frontend to the rear end of the casting. 6. In a draft rigging, thecombination with a draw-bar, tandem yoke, tandem-arranged springs, andtandem-arranged followers, of tandem castings having main front, rearand intermediate stops, the intermediate followers being normally spacedfrom the intermediate stops, the front intermediate stop being normallyfarther away from its coperating intermediate stop than the rearintermediate follower from its cooperating intermediate stops.

7. In a draft rigging, the combination with a draw-bar, tandem yoke, andtandemarranged springs and followers, of tandem casting, each havingmain front, rear and intermediate stops, and limiting stops, the spacesbetween each main stop and corresponding limiting stop being alldifferent and so arranged that upon movement of the draw-bar and yokeall followers will be simultaneously engaged with their respective mainand limiting stops and thereby all followers be simultaneously flexed inabsorbing

